Zeke and the Moonshiners 1964

Band: Zeke and the Moonshiners
Genre: Comedy rock ‘n roll lounge act
Circa: 1964-1966
Home: Chatham Ontario Canada

Notes:Ole & Waide were performing in this band in their teen years. The group later morphed into the popular “Missing Links” which you can read about in full under that band name.
George and Waide left the group around 1966 when they decided to tour extensively. The Moonshiners added Grant Smith as their new drummer for about 2 years.
When starting the tour, they changed the name of the group to “The Missing Links” and entertained in Ontario for about 10 years.  At one point, the hottest recording/lounge act in Toronto.
In 1968, Waide started a popular local dance band known as “The Satin Highlight”.  This group played locally from 1969 to 1979.

(left to right) 
Fred Larsen – organ
John Larsen – bass
Ole Larsen (Eddy) – Guitar (rear-center)
Waide Holland – guitar
George Stoner – drums

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Myers Brothers and the Jubilaires 1964

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Band: The Myers Brothers and the Jubilaires
Year: 1964
Home: Chatham Ontario
Genre: Country.

Members:
Ray Myers – Vocals and acoustic Guitar
Ray Trahan – Drums
Oscar Demers – Lead guitar
Roland Myers – Bass and vocals
Roland Lozon – Second lead guitar

Notes: In 1963,  the drummer retired and Ray Trahan took over the position for the group.
  The band continues to host their own radio show every Saturday night on CFCO radio.
  In 1967, the band does seven consecutive Saturdays Nights doing a one hour radio show for CKNX in Wingham, followed by a show and dance. The band begins to rack up shows supporting major acts from Nashville and the popularity of the band is growing in their live show attendance.

 Pedal steel player Bob Lucier (Grande Pointe), moved to Toronto, and then learned to play the instrument, and within a year he had recorded an album with Nashville Dobro player Shot Jackson. Bob then went on the road with Bill Anderson (approx. one to one and a half years), then came back and joined The Myers Brothers and the Jubilaires for the year of 1967. He moved back to Toronto and joined the Tommy Hunter Show for roughly 20 years.

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The Whippoorwills 1964

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Band: The Whippoorwills
Release: The Whippoorwills
Format: LP Album
Year: 1964
Formed: 1958
Disbanded: late 1964
Home: Chatham Ontario Canada

Label: Canatal Records
Genre: Country Music

Members:
Ray Francis – Rythm guitar
Bill Taylor – Drums
John Tangelis – Bass
Ray Dauphin – Tenor guitar
Max Dauphin – Steel guitar and fiddle

Tracks:
01.Honey lovin’ (Bollington)
02.When two worlds collide (Roger Miller and Bill Anderson)
03.Lost in the islands (Reg Dauphin)
04.A wound time can’t erase (B. Johnson)
05.Ridin’ high (Max Dauphin)
06.Little darlin’ (John Tangelis)
07.Drivin’ nails in my coffin (Jerry Irby)
08.Dead end twist ( William S. Taylor)
09.What would you do (Jim Reeves)
10.South of the border ( Carr and Kennedy)
11.Tears broke out on me ( Hank Cochrane)
12.Tears will fall ( Ray Francis)

This is the second of two releases.

Liner Notes:
    Most country music lovers in Canada and the U.S. have heard of Ray Francis and his western group – “The Whippoorwills”.

    Ray and “The Whippoorwills” have appeared on the best loved country shows, including “Grand Old Opry”, with such well known artists as Brenda Lee, Ferlin Husky, Minnie Pearl, Tex Ritter and others of equal fame.
   
    This versatile country and western group are constantly touring and making personal appearances, in both counties.

    The vocal and instrumental selections recorded were carefully chosen and they feature the melodic sound of the steel guitar, which adds greatly to the rounded blend of this album. The groups first love is the type of music they recorded on this album.

    Standing in the studio in their stocking feet, Ray Francis and his men played one of the finest western and country sessions we have ever heard. Why not share it with us?
Art Snider – Canatal Records.

Note: After this second album, Ray chose a solo career, recording four more albums and appeared on many TV shows.

Recorded at: Newberry Sound Studio LTD.
Engineer: Dave Newberry and Art Snider
Produced by: Art Snider
Cover Photo: Robert Ragsdale, assisted by Margaret Epp
 
About Ray:
  Ray bought his first guitar at the age of 13 and taught himself how to play by watching others in his area, including men living in railroad cars. Ray lived on Edgar Street which was behind the rail road station in Chatham. These train carts were home to men who worked for the rail road but travelled from city to city with their work. Ray would watch them play guitar then ask them to show him how to play that new chord he never saw before. He would then rush home and practice it until he got it down.

  After a long run of it, the road took its toll on him and he decided to walk away from it all to be home with family and take on a job in his home town. Ray’s son Michael is one of Canada’s most accomplished studio musicians and carries the legacy on. S. Beaulieu

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Rondeau Pavilion 1964

 

1969

1960’s

 

 

Club: Rondeau Pavilion
Year: 1964
Built in 1952 by Maurice Smyth (Date noted from article online)
(Update 2017: I have been notified by a personal source that it was actually 1958).
Location: Rondeau Park Ontario
What: Hottest dance club around for decades.

Note: People would drive from a hundred mile radius to party at the Pavilion, and there is no way I could do the Chatham Music Archive without mentioning this place and what I have been told about it. Nothing was like it for miles and miles and the kids would do anything to make it every night.

• The club drew 1,500 on average every Saturday night
• People came from Sarnia, Windsor, Detroit, London and everywhere in between
• Ages 12 – 20 were the scene for the infamous dances held
• The rules were strict but were respected and followed by patrons
• Bands included The pharaohs, The Fiends, Sally and the Bluesman, The American Breed, MC5(in 1969)
• Bob Seger and Alice Cooper played there regularly as struggling musicians before becoming famous
• The Hops (DJ’s spinning what the kids wanted to hear) were the high lights for the kids
• Popular Dj’s for the years the Pavilion were most packed were Bill Saunders and Paul Dusten
• Bill Saunders became the DJ in 1964
• The place is also memorable for its closing song “The Sand and the Sea”
• Girls waited against the wall for a guy to ask them to dance, that was the era
• The guys constantly walked clock wise around the hall
• Mr. Smyth sold Rondeau Pavilion in 1975, attendance was dropping as policies changed to the park
• The pavilion was the third and last dance hall at Rondeau
• Rondeau is Ontario’s second oldest provincial park, which was established in 1894, a year after Algonquin Provincial Park.
  Main Source: The Weekender, May 10^th 1980 By S. Dudley

  Email your info & pictures to:
  chatham_music_archive@hotmail.com

Ian And Sylvia – Four Strong Winds (1964)

Artist: Ian And Sylvia
Release: Four Strong Winds
Date: 1964
Genre: Folk
Sylvia is from Chatham. Born Sylvia Fricker.

Songs:
1. Jesus Met the Woman at the Well
2. Tomorrow Is a Long Time
3. Katy Dear
4. Poor Lazarus
5. Four Strong Winds
6. Ella Speed
7. Long Lonesome Road
8. V’la L’Bon Vent
9. Royal Canal
10. Lady of Carlisle
11. Spanish Is a Loving Tongue
12. Greenwood Sidie, The (The Cruel Mother)
13. Every Night When the Sun Goes Down
14. Every Time I Feel the Spirit

• Watch/listen to the album preview below.
  
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Listen or Buy it here or here.

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